This blog should be sub-titled: a journal of my life in geek.
I get my geek on with things about which I am geeky: comic books, Baseball, Ultimate, science fiction, my favorite bands, books I have read and loved, and Jungian psychology to name some of the most frequently traversed subjects.
I began this project simply as a way to count my T-shirts. I own a lot of T-shirts. But how many do I have? Do I have 365? We shall find out.
When I started this blog, I thought about how each T-shirt means something to me. I bought it for a reason, after all. I set myself the task to post an entry about a new T-shirt every day as a way to simply write something every day, a warm up for writing fiction, which is my passion. Writing is like exercise. Warm ups are good for exercise. But after completing a month of blogging about T-shirts, I have learned that this blog serves as a journal; it documents my life in geek, sort of a tour of my interests in pop culture. The blog serves as a tool for self-inventory, for assessment and analysis of self and the origins of self, for stepping through the process of individuation in catalogues, lists, and ranks.
The blog also made me aware that I have some serious gaps in my T-shirt ownership, and I am in the process of collecting some new T-shirts for several of the great popular culture icons that I truly love. Stay tuned.
I was also a bit surprised that people checked out my blog and continue to check it, read it, and even comment on it. I am very appreciative of this readership. Please feel free to share your thoughts in my comments section. I will respond.
Also, please note that I have moved the original introductory text to the side bar. And now, I present to you the most recent entry of 365 T-shirts: a journal of my life in geek. Thank you for reading.
(Second Update - 1310.24. First Update - 1306.05 Originally Posted - 1304.25.)
T-shirt # 295 - Simple Elements ... Hard to Understand
"Il n'y a qu'un bonheur dans la vie, c'est d'aimer et d'être aimé." - George Sand (There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved.)
Five years ago today, my wife Liesel and I went on our first date. I wish to share the story of our meeting, re-meeting, and falling in love.
I shared about marrying my wife in T-shirt #279, in which I reproduced our wedding ceremony script and included some choice pictures from our wedding. At that time, I wanted to relate the story of how we met, re-met, started dating, and fell in love, but the post had already grown quite long, so I decided to save that story for today, the anniversary of our first date.
Liesel and I originally met in 1990. She was dating a friend of mine, John Kasdorf. I was the host of a thing I called Cafe, which was an open mike night music and poetry (mostly poetry) wine and cheeser that I held in the English Department's lounge in Brown Hall at Western Michigan University. Around the time that John brought Liesel to some of these Cafe events my relationship at the time was ending, and I was giving up hosting the Cafe events, being replaced by the very man my girlfriend left me for, which I find a bit ironic (and not just in an Alanis Morrissette way).
Liesel developed quite a crush on me and kept an eye out for what I was doing in the years that followed. Now, Liesel does not believe the next part, but it's true. I had a little bit of a crush on her, too. I remember feeling the same thing I felt when I re-met her as when I met her originally. I thought to myself: "she's perfect for me. How come John got to meet her and date her first? Why couldn't I meet her first?" Unlike Liesel, my crush was less memorable. I did not remember her name. But from time to time over the years, I would wonder what happened to John's hot Hawaiian girlfriend who seemed so perfect for me. Heck, for years, I wondered what happened to John Kasdorf as we had lost touch.
text reads: sun, moon, earth, water, mountain man & woman Simple elements... hard to understand
Liesel reminded me of a hug we exchanged during one of these Cafes. I did not remember it until she recalled it for me, but I did recall it once she described it. I remembered where in the hall it took place and had a sense of what she was wearing, though I am not sure I could describe it. I felt her energy, which was a strong feeling and felt a connection with her. I also believe that may have been the moment that I thought most strongly how perfect for me she was and how disappointed I was that she was "off-limits" as she was dating and living with my friend John. In discussions about our history, we may have figured out which night this hug took place. I believe it happened after my break-up with my then girlfriend, at a time when I was either no longer host of the Cafe or in my last hosting, when I had written a story called "600 Cows" about a couple getting a divorce, drawing on my experiences with my recent break-up. I was a bit drunk that night, which may have heightened all my emotions. Whether the hug with Liesel took place that night or not, she had her crush from back then, and I had my feeling that she was perfect for me, though I forgot her name and only thought of her from time to time as that woman who seemed so perfect for me who was lost in time.
Fast forward 18 years. December third 2008. I am in Sawall health food store, and I am wearing my suit. I had just helped Chris Dilley give a presentation to the Kiwanis to raise awareness about the good work of the People's Food Co-Op. I was on the board at the time, and I was helping to gain more owners as part of our ownership drive to lead up to the PFC's expansion. I had met my friend Ryan Walters after the Kiwanis thing, and we were enroute to his place to hang out and talk comics. I had planned to change out of my suit there as I had a PFC meeting to attend in a few hours. But first, we stopped at Sawall because he worked there and needed his pay check, and I needed to buy a few things.
Liesel 2008
As I walked the aisles, I saw this BEAUTIFUL woman, and she smiled at me. I guessed she was a college student shopping with her roommate though really it was Liesel shopping with her thirteen year old daughter Piper. She looked almost exactly like she looks in the picture to the left, which I took from Facebook, printed, and carried around to show people this amazing woman I had met.
As I saw her shopping, I thought the exact thing I had thought when I met her all those years ago during the Cafe hostings: "She's perfect for me. Why can't I be dating her or someone like her?" Kicking myself all the time in the store, I bought my purchases and was waiting for Walters when she bought her purchases and prepared to leave. I was kicking myself because I knew she was about to walk out the door, and I would never see her again. I wanted to go up to her and say "Excuse me, you are absolutely perfect for me. I can tell. I have a feeling that we will be madly in love and I would like to take you out to dinner." But how do you tell someone something like that? I knew I wouldn't even have the courage to speak to her let alone try to make the kind of contact that would be useful (like an exchange of emails or phone numbers or even NAMES).
another picture of Liesel and her kids circa 2008
So, I am standing by the door, when she is about to exit, and I hear her say: "you're Chris Tower." Not a question. A statement. SHE KNOWS ME!!! If my heart had wings, at that moment, it would have sprouted them, burst from my chest cavity, and soared to the sun and back. I felt such elation. I can't even properly describe it. With Piper averting her eyes and clearly radiating intense embarrassment over her mother talking to a man in a grocery store, Liesel explained who she was and how she knew me (see previous text). She introduced her daughter. I am not sure if she mentioned that she was divorced, though I left the store knowing she was single. She mentioned that she was back in touch with John, and I was unsure if she meant as friends or something more, so I remember feeling some doubt and worry that she and John were "together," which turned out to be the case. The conversation ended with us both discussing that we were on Facebook and could get in touch there. Piper really did an "Oh geez, Mom" when she mentioned being on Facebook, and we both laughed at the angsty thirteen-year-old.
this is Liesel with her mom
I went flying out of Sawall and flew through the rest of my day. I was high as a kite. I was heels over head in love at first sight. Ryan Walters can attest to this fact as I could talk of little else when we left the store. Later in the day, the entire board of the PFC, especially my good friends Chris Dilley and Hether Frayer saw me coming out of my skin with joy and excitement. I wrote my best friend Tom Meyers soon after who will relate that I was completely nuts about this woman I met in Sawall. Luckily for me, I had bumped into John Kasdorf outside Fanfare sometime that year, and we had become Facebook friends. I searched all his friends for a Liselle or a Liesel or actually any woman whose name was close to that spelling. Nothing. It took Liesel 26 hours to send me a friend request via Facebook. Meanwhile, I am dying in agony every second. What if she never makes contact on Facebook? How will I find her? Do I ask John? Are they dating? I was not even sure how to spell her name.
Liesel and Piper - 1998?
With Facebook contact initiated, flirting began. The courtship began. But there was a snag. She WAS dating John Kasdorf, again. Ten days later, I attended a KAPOW event, John's improv group: Some Kind of Pretty Woman at the Whole Art Theater. Liesel said she would attend as well but could not go out after. I had several other friends in the audience, one of whom knew what was going on with Liesel. I showed up with her and a crew of her friends because I did not want to walk in and sit alone. The other was just someone I had not seen in some time, who actually was brought on stage for the improv. Aftewards, the other friends bailed, and I was left chatting with Liesel and John. Liesel agreed to go out, but she had to take her daughter home first and make sure Ivan was all right. We all agreed to meet at the London Grille. John made it clear that when Liesel showed up that she would want to sit next to him, which did not happen. However, despite a nice time of drinking and laughing and conversation with a bunch of folks from the improv group, it was clear that Liesel and John were "together." I felt like a third wheel when they invited me to go with them as they moved the party to Sushiya, which stayed open later than the Grille. I excused myself and went home. Oddly, as I walked back to my car, I saw my friend Chris Dilley in Old Burdicks. I was feeling dejected and low. Once again, years later, this woman who was perfect for me in every way (I was more convinced of this than ever) was dating someone else, and it was THE SAME GUY.
In a weird twist of fate, I actually started dating someone else, thinking that I had lost out with Liesel. However, the Facebook communication continued. Flirting continued. And eventually there was some discussion of getting together for drinks. I could not figure out this woman, who was supposedly dating a friend of mine, and yet still paying attention to me. I was not committed to the woman I was dating, so Liesel and I made plans and had our first date on January 10th 2009. We mat at Fandango. It was a Saturday. On the way to meet Liesel, I had a conversation with my friend Elizabeth Hughey, who can also attest to how out of my mind excited I was. I did not realize that people could pre-drink before a date. When Liesel stopped at two glasses of wine, I wondered if she was a light-weight, as I wanted a third glass. I did not know she had drank before the date. Just one of the many things I learned from this amazing woman.
To say that the date went fabulously would be an understatement. I had fantasized that I might kiss her that evening, knowing that first dates did not usually go this way. I will not disclose all the details of that first night, but let's just say that my fantasies were more than realized. She was no longer dating John Kasdorf. She was free. We had a wonderful time.
I was completely and madly in love with her from the very start, really from the time I first set eyes on her. Liesel doesn't believe me, but it's true. I tried to safeguard my heart at first. I confessed to love much later only because I was afraid of being hurt. Though in this story "much later" is only ELEVEN days after that first date.
On March 11th, we decide to get married. On April 4th, I ask her to marry me, officially proposing. On October 3rd, 2009, we get married.
Now, I cannot imagine my life without her. Liesel is the love of my life and confirms every day that she is and always has been (and always will be) the perfect person for me to spend the rest of my life with.
I chose this shirt for today because I wanted something that would embody our spiritual connection. From the start, we felt a spiritual bond with each other, which is something we shared about at our wedding. It has to do with AKA CORDS, which is a concept of HUNA mysticism (see link).
If anything has changed, it is only that I love Liesel even more today than I did at first sight or when we got married.
Our spiritual connection has grown and strengthened, cultivating a deeper and richer experience with each passing day.
AND not only is John Kasdorf still a friend of ours, each of us, but he played drums in our wedding! Thanks John!
Here's a very select and small gallery of photos, mostly from 2009.
Liesel and I on St. Patrick's Day 2009
Liesel and I at her step-dad's wedding 2009
Liesel and I on Halloween 2009
Liesel and I at a wedding Dec. 2012
Liesel and I outside Olde Penninsula 1312.17
COUNTDOWN TO END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 70 shirts remaining
- chris tower - first published - 1401.10 - 17:34
final publication - 1401.12 - 11:59
T-shirt #294 - The New Shirt - Darth Knight or BatVader
This is a new shirt. I had to have it. I love Batman. And I love the character of Darth Vader. It seemed like kismet when I saw this merged logo marketed as "The Darth Knight" shirt or "BatVader," as I like to call it.
I created a Star Wars category now that this shirt brings me to three total Star Wars shirts.
I also have a "Batman Related" category in case you wish to examine all posts related to Batman with one click.
This shirt brings to mind a question often debated in geek circles: Batman or Darth Vader?
Who is cooler?
Who is better?
Who would win in a fight?
Choose one and only one to have as an action figure? As a cameo in a movie? To be your favorite character?
Who is cooler?
I think Batman wins that debate.
Does anyone aspire to be Darth Vader? Do you want to be kept alive in a breathing apparatus and be a slave to the Emperor and the Dark Side of the Force? Darth Vader is deformed, and he's a bad guy. He kills people for looking at him cross-eyed. He rules through tyranny. Okay, sure, he has a tragic past. He was Anakin Skywalker, a flawed man prone to uncontrollable rages. And he's Luke Skywalker's dad. He seeks redemption in his last moments and is a happy ghost, like something out of My Three Dads. (Okay, I am thinking of the sitcom My Three Sons, but the line of ghosts at the end of the Return of the Jediare all fathers or father figures and so it seems more appropriate to say My Three Dads).
Batman is just cooler. He gets to kiss Catwoman. He's just a man. He has no magic fueled by the Dark Side of the Force. He's a good guy, but he's a bad ass. He beat Superman (see the Dark Knight Returns for details). People aspire to be Batman. People may like Darth Vader. They may even dress up as Darth Vader. Some may aspire to be Darth Vader, but more people aspire to be Batman. It's a fact. There's data to back it up. Compare the numbers of fan sites. More fan sites. More movies. More story and art. More history. A richer and more detailed history. But most importantly, Batman is GOOD GUY. He's a hero. Darth Vader is not a hero.
BATMAN DOES NOT KILL. This alone makes him "cooler" by most definitions of "cool."
Apparently, this has been a subject discussed some in geek circles. Do your own Google search of Darth Vader vs. Batman for results. Here's a few things I found.
The consensus seems to be that Batman would win. Without the Force, Darth Vader is a seriously broken man in a high-tech iron lung. If Batman can negate the Force as factor in the battle, no problem. In the Star Wars universe, Batman might be the greatest Jedi of all time and kick Darth Vader's ass.
And some people have actually made VIDEOS. This is proof that the Internet is a wonderful place for all kinds of creativity. Or, maybe, proof that people have too much time on their hands.
I like this video, even though Vader prevails. It may be the best of the three I selected. There are others. Sadly, I cannot embed this one. Apparently, Kevin Smith held a contest, so there are several videos. Some are a little stupid.
I like this next one but though Batman overcomes Vader, he also runs away.
#darksideknight Batman vs Darth Vader
This one has some good humor and also some stupidity.
Batman Vs Darth Vader
This is cute and short, but Vader just stands there while Batman makes off with the Princess.
Darth Vader vs. Batman
Favorite? Oh come on. BATMAN of course. Duh. WEEKLY COMICS LISTHere's the Weekly comics list on Thursday this week because Friday's blog is special and will have nothing to do with comics. Now that I have caught up on some of the issues I am reading, Sex Criminals, which is a wonderful comic, jumps to the second spot. I almost had it dislodge The Walking Dead, but the zombie comic is always a quick and easy read so it continues in the top spot if only for that reason. The Cataclysm comics jump into the top five this week because they are written by Bendis and feature great art with Marquez on the Spider-Man comic and Bagley on the other other. Actually, some of last week's comics crept up in this list, like Flash, which I had not read yet. I am actually completing this entry on the Sunday following (1401.12) the Thursday when I posted this entry originally. I am planning a day of reading Sunday (which as I confessed is the day I am actually writing this one). I will report back on the results of that. I am really looking forward to the Black Widow comic. I have been stacking up many comics that I want to review, but such things will have to wait as I continue to catch up. Recently, I have read Revival, volumes one and two, which I enjoyed immensely, so I am hoping to review those soon, but not today. COMICS FOR 1401.08Walking Dead #119 Sex Criminals #4 Afterlife With Archie #3 Cataclysm: Ultimate Spider-Man #003 Cataclysm: The Ultimates Last Stand #003 Green Arrow #27 Black Widow #001 Avengers World #001 Avengers A.I. #008 Young Avengers #015 Wolverine #013 Heist #004 Iron Man #020 Daredevil: Dark Knights #008 Batman: Detective Comics #27 Earth Two #19 Green Lantern #27 Superman: Action Comics#27 The Awakening #002 The Shaolin Cowboy #4 BACK LOGFairest #22 Sheltered #6 Buck Rogers #4 SPECIAL PURCHASESSEX: The Summer of Hard: Volume One From Image Comics (Casey/Kowalski) Revival Volume Two
BTW (By the way), yesterday (1401.08) was David Bowie's birthday. Had I been more organized, I would have featured a shirt for Bowie yesterday. But I cannot always get organized around such things. I am trying to feature something great for T-shirt #300, which looms, and I am not sure I am going to finish what I am working on in time.
Anyway, Happy 67th Birthday Mr. Bowie. Thanks for all you have given me with your art and your presence in the world. My life, all of our lives, have been richer for it.
COUNTDOWN TO END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 71 shirts remaining - chris tower - first publication - 1401.09 - 20:03
Final publication - 1401.12 - 9:24
The illustration above is clearly labeled, so I do not have to repeat the credits. It's very gothic, so it says New York to me. I have been meaning to share it. Francavilla has a blog called Pulp Sunday, and this the banner for it. He has not updated it since August of 2013 as of this writing.
T-shirt #293 - New York City Coffee with Stain
I have no idea where the stain on today's T-shirt came from. I am thinking it may be a coffee stain, which would be appropriate given the art on today's shirts, which I bought during one of my many visits to New York in the years since 1985 when I lived there for an internship at Marvel Comics.
Yes, let me repeat that in case you missed it.
I worked in New York for three months in 1985 as an intern at Marvel Comics.
The entry for T-shirt #236: Happy Ending Massage Parlor does not contain much in the way of New York content. I simply included it in the category because I bought it in New York, and as such, I referenced New York.
My T-shirt #126: New York: Open 24 Hours gave some basics of that time in New York, though I have discovered many things since in subsequent visits. Since I have other New York shirts, I will attempt to spread out my New York content.
BTW, the image to the left is the back of the shirt, and the images above and below are from the front of the shirt, showing the mysterious stain.
Those who have tuned into the blog during the construction period may have seen that this post was under development for a couple of days. In the interest of speed and catching up, I am going to keep things short today.
I flew to New York right about this time of year back in 1985 in the aftermath of one of the worst ice storms in west Michigan recorded weather history. My family had been without power for a week, until my father bought a generator, our first, which did not vent well, but did provide us with enough power to have lights, heat, do laundry, cook, and even for me to record several tapes of music to take with me as I had borrowed a friend's cassette deck for this purpose, a stereo component that I am embarrassed to say I still have in my possession today, though I have tried to return it and re-establish contact with this friend (yes, you Mr. Locke) many times.
I lived in the Century Paramount hotel. Check these links.
It has undergone a great transformation in the gentrification of the Times Square area of New York that has been underway since the late 1980s. When I lived there, a man was stabbed in a fifth floor room by his wife and stumbled to the lobby, smearing blood all over the nice marble floors. We had a fire, for which we were evacuated when I was very ill and unwilling to be moved. The firemen pounded on my door and kicked me out. There were also flying cockroaches that were over two inches long. It has been really transformed since then. The website shows amazing photos, though I still recognize much about the building, especially the exterior.
Even though I kept my stuff at the Paramount, I also, more or less, lived with someone on a boat at the 79th Street Boat Basin, which was quite an adventure in winter in New York. The boat had a coal stove. Try finding scrap wood for fires in New York in the winter. Sounds easy, and it is once you know the meat packing district. But then getting such kindling from the lower west side all the way to West 79th street on the subway at rush hour is a bit of challenge.
This area has been re-modeled and gentrified as well. When I was staying there, these colonnades were abandoned or often the squatting temporary living places of homeless people. I saw New York rat scuttle through once as I walked under the West Side highway. It looked the size of a small child's bicycle.
These are my New York stories for today. I will share more later.
COUNTDOWN TO END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 72 shirts remaining
- chris tower - first publication - 1401.08 - 21:20
Final publication - 1401.10 - 18:57
"I will love you with all the madness in my soul..."
T-shirt # 292 - Bruce Springsteen - The Rising Tour 2002
If you have checked the blog recently, you may have discovered that I have been on vacation and enjoying time with my best friend Tom Meyers, better known as the Lord of Chaos, who was visiting. I chose all the t-shirts during his visit with him in mind. As I finish the blog, two days late (first time I have EVER been so late), I add these preface remarks about how I selected this shirt with Tom Meyers in mind.
Bruce Springsteen is one of the greatest American poets, performers, musicians, and artists of the last fifty years. He's up there with Sandberg, Frost, Woody Guthrie, and other great Americana writers/artists.
I was a BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN fan before I met my friend Tom Meyers, but I must confess that Tom's passion for Bruce Springsteen inspired me and increased my interest in "the Boss" ten fold.
My first Springsteen album was Born to Run, which my mother gave me as a gift in late 1980 or early 1981 when we went to a record store in the mall (State Vitamin), and she bought me several albums, which also included Wind and Wuthering by Genesis, Peter Gabriel's first solo album, Alan Parsons Project's Pyramid, and a few others that I no longer recall. I followed shortly thereafter by acquiring The River, Springsteen's current album at the time.
Though I have a special place in my heart for The River because of those days of listening to it in my early years of discovering music (during my college years my exploration expanded exponentially), Born To Run remains my favorite Bruce Springsteen album, and in my humble opinion, I consider it one of the best albums (not just rock music but including all albums in the modern music arena) of all time.
Rolling Stone magazine agrees. The seminal music magazine ranks Born to Run as Number Eighteen on its Top 500 albums of all time list. For me, this is too low.
I am going to indulge a bit in the examination of best albums of all time, according to two sources, before I return to an examination of Springsteen.
Rolling Stone has five Beatles albums in its top twenty and three by Dylan. The Beach Boys Pet Sounds makes number two. And though I agree that The Clash's London Calling and the Rolling Stone's Exile on Main Street belong in the top ten, I am not sure that I would rank three different Beatles albums (Sgt. Pepper, Rubber Soul, and The White Album), two by Dylan (Blonde on Blonde and Highway 51 Revisited) and Marvin Gaye's What's Going On over Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run.
The Q Magazine list makes more sense to me, though with some variations. The Brits rank the Clash's London Calling at Twentieth, with which I disagree, and Springsteen does not appear in the Top Twenty at all. However, instead of the Beatles reigning supreme in the Top Ten, Q Magazine ranks Radiohead's OK Computer as Number One, Radiohead's The Bends as Number Two, and Radiohead's Kid A as Number Ten. Revolver is the only Beatles in the Top Ten at four, Nirvana's Never Mind at three (Seventeenth on Rolling Stone's list), and other bands in the Top Ten that did not make Rolling Stone's list, such as the Stone Roses, Oasis, REM, and U2. Q Magazine actually ranks Achtung Baby over U2's The Joshua Tree, and I do not know many people who would agree with such an arrangement.
Enough recap. Any list of greatest albums of all time must include Born to Run in the Top Ten. I agree with London Calling and Exile on Main Street being in that group. But there must be other changes. Q Magazine ranks Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon as Number Fifteen and Rolling Stone has no Pink Floyd in the Top Twenty, which feels like an oversight to me. I might rank The Smiths over Oasis or the Stone Roses.
Furthermore, in discussions with my visiting friend, who has returned to this home on the eastern seaboard as I type this sentence, which is the day after the official first publication of this blog, there are other albums that must be included in a Top Ten Greatest list, such as the Who's Quadrophenia and David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars. He also agreed that U2's The Joshua Tree should rank above Achtung Baby. We both agreed that the Beatles deserve one spot as does Radiohead, though not multiple spots. I feel the Jam and Talking Heads deserve spots. We both agreed that Dylan may not deserve a spot. Objectively, though I am not a huge fan, Nirvana's Never Mind probably deserves a spot, but I am not going to give it a spot. Thom Yorke actually based a great deal of OK Computer on the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, and though this increases its merit, I do not know that album very well, so I am going to add an album I think is seminal and powerful, and one that I have come to love as one of my all-time favorites. And though it did not rank in my top tier in T-shirt #97, this simply proves that the method of those rankings (which I will discuss in a moment) is not as objective as rating an album as a "best of all time," and so, with a little help from my friend, our combined list goes something like this (not in order):
BEST ALBUMS OF ALL TIME - MY LIST
Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen
London Calling - The Clash
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars - David Bowie
Quadrophenia - The Who
OK Computer - Radiohead
Joshua Tree- U2
Exile on Main Street - Rolling Stones
Revolver - The Beatles
Déjà Vu - Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young
Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd
Some other stuff just does not make the cut. I feel strongly about the Jam and Talking Heads. But have these bands produced two of the top ten best albums of all time or would they be among my personal faves? I have many personal faves that if I am to apply some objectivity would not be in a top ten of best albums of all time. I dropped Nirvana, as I claimed. I considered the Beach Boys' album, but I went with this list because there is an effect of my own prejudice. Revolver is not my favorite Beatles album, but then neither is Sgt, Pepper's. I would be more inclined to choose Let it Be, which is my favorite Beatles, but I am trying to synch with some of the best of lists.
I wrote about my personal favorite albums using the ones I have listened to most often as my main point of criterion in T-shirt #97, and though I might defend that King Crimson's Discipline is one of the most amazing
rock albums of all time, it's still an argument I am making based on personal criteria: what I have I listened to the most, what has had the greatest impact on me, which albums have given me the greatest enjoyment? My list for T-shirt #97 contains a Top Ten albums rated with such criteria, but Springsteen does not appear in the list. However, the list above feels like a greater and more objective evaluation of best albums, and yet the selections are obviously driven by my own subjective analysis. Some would cry in frustration: "Where's Led Zep??" "What about Queen?" and so on. The arguments would really never end. So there's the list. I am three days late finishing this blog post, so I have to get a hustle on.
Here's what Rolling Stone wrote about the Boss' "masterpiece":
Bruce Springsteen spent everything he had – patience, energy, studio time, the physical endurance of his E Street Band – to make his masterpiece. There are a dozen guitar overdubs on the title track alone. "The album became a monster," Springsteen recalled. But in making his third album, he was living out the central drama in its gun-the-engine rock & roll: the fight to reconcile big dreams with crushing reality. He found it so hard to re-create the sound in his head – the Jersey-bar dynamite of his live gigs, Phil Spector's grandeur, Roy Orbison's melodrama – that he nearly gave up and put out a live album. But his attention to detail produced a timeless record about the labors and glories of aspiring to greatness.
I asked Tom to choose his favorite albums by Springsteen, as we are old and still album-oriented in how we think about and experience music. Though I am happy to see the LP vinyl record make a resurgence in popularity. I have two cool stores in town in which to purchase albums, and I need to hook up my turntable. Tom could neither rank these albums nor the favorite songs list that follows. Springsteen love is too much a level playing field. It was almost too difficult to choose five albums and a dozen songs.
MY FRIEND TOM'S FAVORITE FIVE BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN ALBUMS
(not ranked)
Born to Run
The Ghost of Tom Joad
Tunnel of Love
The Wild, The Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle
Live in New York City
I agree with this list, for the most part. Though I would replace the live album with The River, which may not be one of his greatest, but it's one I am awfully fond of because it was my second Springsteen album. Devil's and Dust, Nebraska, and The Rising would all vie for spots. It's quite difficult to choose actually. Though, I think Tom and I would both agree that Born in the USA is not making this list. I don't even own it.
TOM'S PLAYLIST OF FAVORITE SPRINGSTEEN SONGS (Not ranked)
"Blood Brothers"
"Devil's and Dust"
"I Wish I Were Blind"
"Stolen Car"
"Dead Man Walking"
"Straight Time"
"Thunder Road"
"Incident on 57th Street"
"Two Faces"
"Fourth of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)"
"Wild Billy's Circus Story"
"All that Heaven Will Allow"
I will include some videos of both Tom's favorite songs and my favorite songs to conclude this blog entry.
I have seen Bruce Springsteen in concert four times. The photos in this blog entry feature my one and only Springsteen shirt (unless I buy another) from the Rising tour in 2002. My own playlist, which I will share, is in part dominated by songs from The Rising because I made it to listen to on the way to the concert, which was all the way down in Columbus, Ohio. I am not sure whom I was planning to take with me to the Columbus show, or if I was just planning to find someone who would go with me once I had the tickets. Regardless, I found a student who was a huge Springsteen fan who agreed to go with me. The concert took place after the semester ended, so his grade was already assured. He's a good guy, and we had fun, though I am not sure I remember his name. His first name, I think, was Matt.
In the picture to the left, I believe I had tickets to the Ann Arbor acoustic show for the Ghost of Tom Joad tour when the Battle Creek Enquirer asked me to review the show at Miller Auditorium, so I was able to see two Springsteen shows in the same week. I do not even remember who went with me to the Ann Arbor show. I know I saw the Miller show by myself as the call to go was too last minute to find anyone to go with me, but I remember meeting someone I would date off and on that night while buying sushi at D&W, so the evening is firmly fixed in my memory.
I present two versions of my Springsteen reviews from 1996 in their entirety.
REVIEW #1 (SHORTER): Kyle Shirk of South Bend, Indiana could relate to Bruce Springsteen at the Boss's Tuesday night concert at Miller Auditorium in Kalamazoo because he's been in the big guy's shoes. Eight-year-old Kyle sang "Youngstown" for his first grade class back in May when his turn at show-and-tell rolled around. He has the song, from Springsteen's latest release "The Ghost of Tom Joad," memorized, and unlike the Boss, Kyle sang it in class without a guitar. The Shirks--Kyle and his parents Wayne and Tammy--attended the Bruce Springsteen concert along with 3400 other Boss fans from far and wide. The Shirks called yesterday to get tickets after listening to a busy signal for hours the day they went on sale. For Wayne Shirk, this is his 30th Springsteen concert. It's number two for Tammy and Kyle. But they're a Springsteen family through and through even if Wayne has seen the Boss a few extra times. Kyle's full name--Kyle William--comes from "Reason To Believe" of "Nebraska," Springsteen's last foray into the Woody Guthrie inspired folk sound he's returned to with "Tom Joad." The Boss's "If I Shall Fall a Step Behind" from "Tunnel of Love" is featured on the Shirk's wedding video. Wayne Shirk believes in starting Bruce fans at a tender young age of, well, birth. Kyle has grown up with Springsteen and named each tune Bruce began throughout the concert, including singing along on "Youngstown." Though Kyle sang along on a few other Springsteen tunes Tuesday night, he denies that he's working up anymore songs and has no plans to bring his musical talents to show-and-tell anytime in the near future. For others the Springsteen concert was less of a family ritual and more of a gift. The Miller usher corps, numbering in the hundreds, competed in a lottery to earn their place at a door, said Helen Goyings, one of the lucky 50 selected in the random drawing. But for Eilene Harrison the concert was worth a little bit more: a fur coat. Harrison put her name on a waiting list for tickets and received a call yesterday at the Oshtemo Post Office that the tickets were available. She hooted, hollered, and flung postage stamps in the air at the news. She coerced co-worker Randy Barnes to pony up his credit card to redeem himself for breaking a previous date. "He stood me up for the Allegan County Fair," Harrison said, "so he had to redeem himself. It was either this or a fur coat. I told him that if he takes me to Bruce, it makes up for missing Vince Gill." Some people might think Harrison settled for something of lesser value, but for the 3400 fans giving Bruce Springsteen three standing ovations Tuesday night, the concert was worth a great deal more than a fur coat
REVIEW #2 (LONGER): The crowd sizzled with the equivalent of heat lightning in excitement as Bruce--the Boss--Springsteen kept them waiting an extra twenty minutes. The 3400 people packing Kalamazoo's Miller Auditorium to capacity Tuesday night had one thing on their mind: the Boss. No opening act. No frills. No fancy set. Just the Boss man and his guitar. If you wandered by Miller Auditorium Tuesday night, you might have heard what sounds like BOOs but was really people yelling "BRUCE" enthusiastically between each song. Springsteen wanted them quiet during the songs though, and he set this tone from the start. Without hype or fanfare, he strolled out on stage in the darkness, and as the lights bathed him for the first time, he held his guitar at shoulder-height, briefly, before launching into the opening chords and harmonica wails of "The Ghost of Tom Joad," his latest release. For each tune, Springsteen tells a story either of the song's theme, such as "trying something new," or longer tales of mexican migrants, Vietnam veterans, Texan shrimp fishers, and the epic hero of Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath," Tom Joad, for whom Springsteen named his album. Though most of the songs from the new album are quiet, somber, dark songs of pain, loss, and emptiness, Springsteen varied the evening with resonant and powerful acoustic versions of some of his older hits, like "Darkness on the Edge of Town," "Born in The USA," and "Promised Land." But fans who expected the driving electric-powered guitar force of "Born To Run" settled for the "Tom Joad" songs which comprised most of Springsteen's 18 song set and two encores of six more songs. Though Springsteen returned to some of the songs of "Nebraska," the album with which many have compared "Tom Joad," he performed a suite of "Joad" songs from the southwest: "The Line," "Balboa Park," and "Across the Border" as well as "Sinaloa Cowboys," "Galveston Bay," and "Dry Lightning" among others. Though many fans hooted and cheered at the beginning of the concert, soon Springsteen won them over with his pleas for quiet and his ability to mesmerize a crowd with a combination of stories and music (and musical stories). His talks between songs were often as quiet as the songs themselves and sometimes just as revealing and emotionally intense. The crowd was soon spellbound. But Springsteen delivered some humor to break the somber mood. He joked about the state of Michigan with a song dedicated for that purpose and warned against the evils of late night television and infomercials with a happy-go-lucky "Sell It and They Will Come" song. The Boss ended his main concert after only ninety minutes and the two encores brought the entire evening to a little over two hours, well short of the marathon three and four hour concerts he's been known to do, as recently as this last January in Detroit at the beginning of the first part of the "Joad" tour. Though "Tom Joad" has turned gold since its release almost a year ago, Springsteen joked about low record sales. Regardless of its sales, the album has earned Springsteen much recognition not only for tipping his hat to Guthrie and Steinbeck but for his gritty portrait of the dispossessed of America and his brave social commentary. The fans in Kalamazoo's Miller Auditorium would agree. After two hours of the "World According to Bruce Springsteen," they all drove home with a great deal to think about.
I also saw the 2005 acoustic tour promoting Devil's and Dust. As I mentioned earlier, my playlist was made for the tour for The Rising, but I must have remade it prior to Devil's and Dust as that song appears on it.
"Thunder Road"
"Born To Run"
"Jungleland"
"Into The Fire"
"The Ghost Of Tom Joad"
"Devils & Dust"
"Independence Day"
"The River"
"Tunnel Of Love"
"Nebraska"
"The E Street Shuffle"
"Growin' Up"
"Human Touch"
"The Rising"
"Streets Of Philadelphia"
"Adam Raised a Cain"
"Straight Time"
"Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)"
I have listened to Springsteen for years and could relate many experiences and impacts with and of his music. "Thunder Road" is a personal anthem. It is by far one of my favorite things in life. I have read many articles and reviews and things about Bruce, but this blog entry is already late and it would be five times larger if I tried to capture everything. Instead, I would like to share one moment.
I saw an interview with Springsteen a few years ago on CBS' 60 Minutes television program. One thing Bruce said struck with me. I cannot remember the quote verbatim, but essentially he said that his whole life (up until then, which may have been about 2005), he had been waiting to become the man he thought he should be, when he realized that it was time to start living as the man he was, the man he had become. This comment resonated with me as I felt I had the same experience, and so I started living as the man I had become rather than the man I thought I should be, was expected to be, had hoped to be. Of course, as soon as I did that, my life changed 1000000% and now I am that man that I had been waiting for. Funny that.
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Five years ago today, my wife Liesel and I went on our first date. I wish to share the story of our meeting, re-meeting, and falling in love..jpg)
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I chose this shirt for today because I wanted something that would embody our spiritual connection. From the start, we felt a spiritual bond with each other, which is something we shared about at our wedding. It has to do with AKA CORDS, which is a concept of HUNA mysticism (see link).
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